Pretty much in the title.
Obviously, the answer will depend heavily on the quality of the writing, but if quality is up to par and equal between the two, which do you prefer reading?
other-feedback
writing-research
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Hello again!
The written word cannot match the experience of the moving picture so I prefer short, choppy fight scenes with the important bits emphasized.
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Short, sweet, and straight to the point, huh?
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I agree with Narb. It’s hard to picture exactly what’s going on in a fight scene no matter how well-written it is, so the shorter and punchier, the better. (*＾-‘) 乃
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Reading is fine, either way. Writing? I prefer shorter.
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shorter :))
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I have an entire chapter which is a battle… A Garrison is attacked and the men there defend it with few losses, but win because of clever tactics…
If planned out right, it can be a turbulent affair with many turns and attack and defend moments, all of which comes to the final push for success and victory. But this will not work for a simple few men fighting a few others, or a pub brawl… That would be, and should be, a short scuffle…
SD
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I love reading a good, long fight scene. It’s why I love action thrillers
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Hey, it’s been a while.
Thanks for the feedback, currently busy with something that has a lot of action that I feel may be dragging the pacing down.
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Would you say the same even if it’s fixed to one POV?
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If you don’t mind sharing, what makes you enjoy the longer action scenes?
Seems like your preference is the rarer one.
Thanks for the feedback.
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Not sure! I’d need to see it first. But don’t let my opinion sway you. If you like reading or writing long fight scenes, then do it! Just make sure your description is exciting and dramatic, and I’m sure the readers will love it too.
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That’s the issue with fight scenes; description kills them.
Reason why Brandon Sanderson writes them so damn well is because he has basically no prose, so the fights are all just cause and effect with no fluff.
I’ve just replicated this by dropping prose during a fight scene then turning it back on afterwards (obviously).
What I’m trying to gauge is how badly long fight scenes influence the overall pace of a story. There’s a lot of factors hence why I’m asking all you lovely people.
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Are you trying to model your fight scenes after Brandon, just in your own way?
The only fight scenes I read are in manga and things of that nature.
Honestly, I just love a good fight scene 
I’ve been reading action thrillers most of my life and they, more often than not, have big fight scenes. I don’t know why but I’ve always enjoyed reading them. They’re just so exciting
Imitating style with my own flare (a drop more prose than he uses). Depends what you mean by model.
I see. Has there ever been one that really put you off? If so can you try rationalizing why?
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You answered my question. Thanks so much.
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Not really
It depends, on many things apart from the writing quality. It depends on the genre as well as the intensity level of conflict and the character/character & reader/character emotional connection, which directly affects the level of engagement, in the book.
I tend to like clumsy, momentary face-off fight scenes with MCs I connect with… Experienced MCs also appeal to me in a case of ‘protecting their LI’ or ‘taking down the bad guys with finesse’.
I don’t like it too short to give a sense that it was wrapped up too quickly or an easy win or even a deus ex machina situation. But a page or two of a somewhat harrowing, edge-of-seat, anticipative fight scene has its place.
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